Additional Images by this Photographer:

Another image of the 10-1-09 elliptical halo

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Oct 4 23:21:01 2009 UTC

Heres another pic taken later on and you can see the halo is smaller and there is only one ellipse present and you can also see how close it is to the sun. I would gotten more pics but I was busy helping my mother clean the house due to the upcoming family fall party. I wish I would have gotten to see the display from the very begining because when I first saw the halos it was already in progress.

Copyright Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 1-10-09

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Oct 4 03:33:01 2009 UTC

After having no photoworthy halos since july I got outside to glance at the sky and I spot two elliptical halos around the sun. You can see a large outer ellipse and theres a second smaller one near the sun which is blocked with the telephone pole. These halos are usually whitish but here you can see some spectral coloring.

Copyright Michael Ellestad

Another image of the pyramidal halos of 4-2-09

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Fri Apr 3 16:08:01 2009 UTC

This another images of the display and the inner halo close to the sun is visible. In al there were 9, 18, 20, 23, and faint 35 degree halos and the upper arc is 23 degree plate arc.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

pyramidal halos 4-2-09

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Fri Apr 3 16:08:01 2009 UTC

After the elliptical halo, strong winds from a cold front pushed a lot of low level cumuliform clouds to the north and in the wake was a huge haze of cirrostatus. I used my sunglasess as a reflector and noticed a bright arc tangent to a circular halo. I pulled over and got to witness this half-way decent pyramidal halo display. There are three different halos including the upper bright 23 degree plate arc. Unsharp mask is used to bring out the halos more clearly.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 4-2-09 enhanced

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Fri Apr 3 16:08:01 2009 UTC

Heres another photo of the halo only a slight unsharp mask was applied to show the slight color these halos sometimes show.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 4-2-09

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Fri Apr 3 15:44:01 2009 UTC

Got this elliptical halo in the way home from work. For safety since I was driving I pulled into a parking lot. This is the second elliptical halo this year.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

The volcanic afterglow

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Sep 14 04:33:01 2008 UTC

After timelapsing the sunset I go out and see this deep red glow in the west and I knew it was not an aurora because aurora come from the north. This amazing glow was from the west and after doing an exposure the sky turned this brillian pink and purple and was unlike anything I ever saw in the sky. This is without a doubt the first volcanic sunset I have photographed.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

volcanic sunset part 2

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Sep 14 04:33:01 2008 UTC

Here one can see the brilliant magenta, purple dome and other colors and notice not a single cloud in the sky and no smog, haze, or humidity.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

volcanic sunset

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Sep 14 04:13:01 2008 UTC

For a while I have noticed strange pearly clouds the past couple weeks and did not know what they were and how they caused the unusual sunsets but found out it was due to an Alaskan volcano called Kasatoshi.

Elliptical halo 3-23-08 part 6

Here you can see a bluish ellipse close to the
sun, a fragment of a second on the right side and
finally a larger outer third.

Copyright(C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 3-23-08 part 5

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:52:01 2008 UTC

Here there are two eliipses and you can see they
are highly colored which is unusual.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 3-23-08 part

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:52:01 2008 UTC

Normally elliptical halos are a whitish color but
here you can see color in it like classical halos
with red inside and blue on the outside. The
ellipse here is guite bright.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 3-23-08 part 3

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:30:01 2008 UTC

This was the first stage and this was when I
spotted the halos and ran as fast as I could to
find a telephone pole as a sun blocker.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical hal3-23-08 part 2

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:30:01 2008 UTC

Here we see two ellipses notice the ellipse close
to the sun.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Elliptical halo 3-23-08

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:30:01 2008 UTC

This is part of a series of photos I got a rare
elliptical halo display that lasted over two
hours in Ohio USA. Elliptical halos are a special
type of halo that forms in dissolving altocumulus
AC clouds rather than the cirrus clouds. This
started out as a single ellipse that lasted for
10 minutes then disappeared but then came back
much brighter and would have up to three ellipses
at one time. As the cloud would move the halo
would shrink expand.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Super double rainbow

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:30:01 2008 UTC

This is another rainbow I got a month later and
this one is probably the best I have seen in
years not only was it very bright but the
secondary was bright and the primary showed at
least three interference supernummery bows. This
set of bows make some rainbows in past years I
have photographed look mediocre.

Copyright (C) Michael Ellestad

Rainbow after a tornado 4-26-07

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Apr 6 15:08:01 2008 UTC

This was taken after a tornado producing
supercell swept through Adams Co. Ohio. My
brother who was in twon saw the tornado touch
down and later got pummeled by golfball hail. I
saw green skies and rotation.

Copyright (c) Michael Ellestad

Last photo of aurora 2006

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Jul 30 20:30:01 2006 UTC

This is all she wrote this was the last photo and
by then the aurora was just an arc and I was in
need of sleep.

Proton arc

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Jul 30 20:00:02 2006 UTC

While the green was buildin up on the northern
horizon I look up ans spot a faint gray band and
after doing a minute long exposure I notice its a
proton arc. proton arcs are red or pinkish in
color and often proceed good aurora displays

Another one of the ellipse

Elliptical halo

Submitted by:
Michael Ellestad at Sun Dec 18 20:47:01 2005 UTC

I got this unusual elliptical halo saturday while
cutting wood. This type of halo is born from
light refracting through a special type pyramidal
crystal that has a gentle sloping pyramid. The
vertical radius of this halo can vary with sun
elevation. Sometimes there can be more than one
ellipse around the sun or moon.